Wickenburg, AZ

Bob, Darleen, Marge & I drove over to Wickenburg, Thursday morning while we were staying at Salome. A most interesting day was spent in Wickenburg. The city is supported by tourists and many dude ranches in the area. We learned that the city is named after Henry Wickenburg, a german immigrant gold miner who was attracted to the area around 1863. We went to the information center which is housed in the old railway station. This building is the home of the Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber of Commerce headquarters housed in the old railway station. This is also the information center.

Henry Wickenburg, for whom the city is named.

Founder of the Vulture Mine

Old 761 Sante Fe Steam Engine.

The Jail Tree. As the town didn't have any formal jail, your sentence was served chained to this 200+ old mesquite tree

Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, built the Vernetta Hotel(now Hassayampa Building) which was located across from the rail station in 1905
Marge & Darleen sitting on a sculpture that is located in front of the Desert Caballeros Museum.

Bronze sculpture of a miner and his companion.

As stated earlier Wickenburg is a western town that is 55 miles west of Phoenix on Hwy 60 and the flavour is well represented here. We saw many pickups pulling horse trailers throughout the streets here. There are many individual shops that sell unique memorabilia, artwork and one of a kind crafts. There were many beautiful items there that we would have liked, but we don't have any more room in the motorhome to showcase these treasures. After lunch at The Mecca Restaurant & Cantina, of which had been recommended to us, and we weren't disappointed. We slowly walked back to where the car was parked near the old railway station. Along the way we browsed in many of the shops and stopped at many of the bronze statues that had voice recordings when a button was pushed. These recordings at the statues, such as the hotel owner & the miner provided some local insight to what life was like back a hundred years ago. For further information on Wickenburg visit the town website and click on the "bronze statue" link on the home page: http://www.ci.wickenburg.az.us/. Also the Chamber of Commerce is an excellent resource for information & upcoming attractions. http://www.wickenburgchamber.com/atractions.asp